The New Zealand quail (''Coturnix novaezelandiae''), or ''koreke'' in

Māori Māori or Maori can refer to: Relating to the Māori people * Māori people of New Zealand, or members of that group * Māori language, the language of the Māori people of New Zealand * Māori culture * Cook Islanders, the Māori people of the C ...

, is an extinct

quail Quail is a collective name for several genera of mid-sized birds generally placed in the order Galliformes. The collective noun for a group of quail is a flock, covey, or bevy. Old World quail are placed in the family Phasianidae, and New ...

species

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found else ...

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

. The male and female were similar, except the female was lighter. The first scientist to describe it was

Sir Joseph Banks Sir Joseph Banks, 1st Baronet, (19 June 1820) was an English naturalist, botanist, and patron of the natural sciences. Banks made his name on the 1766 natural-history expedition to Newfoundland and Labrador. He took part in Captain James C ...

when he visited New Zealand on James Cook's first voyage. Terrestrial and temperate, this species inhabited lowland tussock grassland and open fernlands. The first specimen to be obtained by a European was collected in 1827 by Jean René Constant Quoy and Joseph Paul Gaimard on

Dumont D'Urville Jules Sébastien César Dumont d'Urville (; 23 May 1790 – 8 May 1842) was a French explorer and naval officer who explored the south and western Pacific, Australia, New Zealand, and Antarctica. As a botanist and cartographer, he gave his nam ...

's voyage.

History

Research was conducted between 2007 and 2009 into whether the quails on

Tiritiri Matangi Island Tiritiri Matangi Island is located in the Hauraki Gulf of New Zealand, east of the Whangaparaoa Peninsula in the North Island and north east of Auckland. The island is an open nature reserve managed by the Supporters of Tiritiri Matangi Incorp ...

– which was spared the worst impact of introduced predators – might be a surviving population of this species, or ''koreke''-

brown quail The brown quail (''Synoicus ypsilophorus''), also known as the swamp quail, silver quail and Tasmanian quail, is an Australasian true quail of the family Phasianidae. It is a small, ground-dwelling bird and is native to mainland Australia, Tasman ...

(''Synoicus ypsilophora'') hybrids. However, a genetic study showed instead that the quail on Tiritiri Matangi are Australian brown quail, ''Synoicus ypsilophora''. Sequences were derived for all quail species within the Australian and New Zealand ''Coturnix sp''. complex.

Taxonomy

It has sometimes been considered

conspecific Biological specificity is the tendency of a characteristic such as a behavior or a biochemical variation to occur in a particular species. Biochemist Linus Pauling stated that "Biological specificity is the set of characteristics of living organis ...

with the Australian

stubble quail The stubble quail (''Coturnix pectoralis'') is a native Australian species which is the most common quail species in Australia. The species is not under any threat of extinction (IUCN Least Concern). Stubble quail are widespread and found throug ...

(''Coturnix pectoralis''), which would then be named ''Coturnix novaezelandiae pectoralis'' as the New Zealand bird was described first. However, the genetic analysis showed that they are separate though closely related species.Seabrook-Davison, M.; Huynen, L.; Lambert, D.M.; and Brunton D.H. (2009). Ancient DNA Resolves Identity and Phylogeny of New Zealand's Extinct and Living Quail (Coturnix sp.). ''PLoS ONE'' 4(7), e6400. .

Gallery

File:New Zealand Quail.jpg, Illustration File:Extinct birds - an attempt to unite in one volume a short account of those birds which have become extinct in historical times - that is, within the last six or seven hundred years - to which are (14770671773).jpg, Illustration of the

Chatham rail The Chatham rail (''Cabalus modestus'') is an extinct flightless species of bird in the family Rallidae. It was endemic to Chatham, Mangere and Pitt Islands, in the Chatham archipelago of New Zealand. The Chatham rail and the Dieffenbach's ...

and the New Zealand quail from 1907

References

External links

Koreke, the New Zealand Quail
(with pictures, article, taxonomy, & description).
3D view
of specimens RMNH 110.051 and RMNH 110.052 at Naturalis, Leiden (requires QuickTime browser plugin).
''New Zealand Quail / Koreke. Coturnix novaezelandiae''
by Paul Martinson. Artwork produced for the book ''Extinct Birds of New Zealand'', by Alan Tennyson, Te Papa Press, Wellington, 2006
''The Quail (male and female) Coturnix Novae Zealandie''
by Johannes Keulemans in the collection of the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa
''New Zealand Quail''
by George Lodge, 1913 in the collection of the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa {{Taxonbar, from=Q733377 New Zealand quail Extinct birds of New Zealand Bird extinctions since 1500 Species made extinct by human activities New Zealand quail Species endangered by disease Taxa named by Jean René Constant Quoy Taxa named by Joseph Paul Gaimard